This invention relates to a disk player, and more particularly to a "magazine disk player" in which a plurality of disks are loaded, and a desired one of the disks is selected so that the disks are played one after another.
A conventional magazine disk player comprises a disk playing means including a turn table and a pickup for playing a disk, a magazine loading section adapted to detachably hold a magazine containing a plurality of disks which are arranged in its housing and can be inserted into and taken out of the housing through an opening formed therein one at a time and a disk conveying means which, in response to a disk playing instruction, takes the disk out of the magazine which is to be played, and conveys the disk thus taken out onto the turn table, and which returns the disk into the magazine. The disk player further comprises a magazine loading detecting means which, in order to allow the disk conveying means to positively convey the disk, detects whether or not the magazine has been positively loaded in the magazine loading section. In addition, the magazine disk player includes magazine ejecting means for removing the magazine from the player housing for instance when the disk is to be replaced. The magazine ejecting means includes a push-out lever which is provided near the deepest region of the magazine loading section in such a manner that it is pivotable, and which is engaged through its free end portion with the magazine, to push the latter out of the magazine loading section and a pushing force applying means for applying a pushing force, or a biasing force, to the push-out lever.
With the magazine disk player thus constructed, in the case where a desired disk is to be played, the following two methods are employed. In the first method, the magazine in the magazine loading section is replaced with the magazine which contains the desired disk. In the second method, the magazine is removed from the magazine loading section, and any one of the disks in the magazine thus removed is replaced with the desired disk, and then the magazine is loaded into the magazine loading section again. In the case where it is required to play disks kept by the operator, the above-described operations must be carried out for each disk, which are rather troublesome.
In order to overcome this difficulty, a magazine disk player has been proposed in the art in which the disks can be replaced quickly and readily, as described in Japanese Kokai No. 261851/1986. The magazine disk player is designed to use a single adapter. The single adapter has the same outside dimension as the aforementioned magazine, and is loaded in the magazine loading section. With the single adapter thus loaded, insertion or replacement of one disk is carried out.
In order to use the above-described single adapter, it is necessary to control the operation of the disk conveying means separately according to whether the magazine has been loaded or whether the single adapter has been loaded. For this purpose, the magazine loading detecting means is so designed as to detect whether the magazine is loaded or whether the single adapter is loaded. More specifically, the magazine loading detecting means includes a pair of detecting levers which are freely pivotable and have free end portions, respectively, which are engageable with the magazine, biasing force applying means, namely, coil springs for applying biasing forces to the detecting levers respectively and a pair of detecting switches which are engaged with the detecting levers, respectively. That is, the magazine disk player is so designed that, when the magazine is loaded, the magazine is engaged with both of the detecting levers to swing them against the elastic forces of the coil springs, so that the detecting switches output detection signals, respectively and when the single adapter is loaded, only one of the detecting levers is swung by the single adapter, so that only one of the detecting switches outputs the detection signal. The control circuit utilizes the detection signals thus outputted to determine which has been loaded.
As is apparent from the above description, the conventional magazine disk player has a number of levers such as detecting levers and push-out levers which are used for detecting the loading of the magazine or single adapter or for removal of the latter, and a number of springs for urging those levers. That is, the conventional magazine disk player has a large number of components, which makes it difficult to miniaturize the magazine disk player and to reduce the manufacturing cost.
The conventional magazine disk player further includes magazine locking means for locking the magazine to the magazine loading section and another magazine loading detecting means for detecting the fact the magazine has been loaded in the magazine loading section and has been locked by the magazine locking means. The magazine locking means, as shown in FIGS. 19 and 20, comprises a locking member 102 which is provided near the magazine loading section in such a manner that it can freely swing, and which is engaged with a locking recess 101aformed in the side of the magazine 101 to lock the latter 101 to the magazine loading section, and urging means, namely, a spring member 103 which is adapted to urge the locking member 102 so that the latter 102 locks the magazine 101. Hence, as the magazine 101 is loaded into the magazine loading section, the locking member 102 is brought into slide contact with the side of the magazine by the elastic force of the spring member 103 and when the magazine 101 has been completely inserted into the magazine loading section, the locking member is engaged with the engaging recess 101a of the magazine 101. As for the magazine loading detecting means, a detecting switch (not shown) is provided which is operated when engaged with the engaging member 102. The detecting switch detects the fact that, as the magazine 101 is inserted into the magazine loading section, the locking member 102 is swung from the locking position shown in FIG. 19 to the non-locking position shown in FIG. 20, and thereafter it is returned to the locking position as shown in FIG. 21; that is, the magazine has been completely loaded in the magazine loading section.
In the conventional magazine disk player thus constructed, the detecting switch is operated by a single reciprocation of the locking member loading of the magazine, to detect the fact that the magazine has been loaded in the magazine loading section. Hence, when the operator suspends the insertion of the magazine 101 in the stage shown in FIG. 20, and pulls the magazine out of the magazine loading section, detection of the loading of the magazine is accomplished, because, in this case, the locking member makes a single reciprocation.